Istar Ultra FirmwareOperating system · Johnsoncontrols

CVE-2022-21941

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.8.9.cu01 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
All versions of iSTAR Ultra prior to version 6.8.9.CU01 are vulnerable to a command injection that could allow an unauthenticated user root access to the system.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

All versions of iSTAR Ultra prior to 6.8.9.CU01 contain a command injection vulnerability that can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to achieve root-level system access.

MitigationUpgrade iSTAR Ultra firmware to version 6.8.9.CU01 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Istar Ultra FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 6.8.9.cu01

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Access the iSTAR Ultra administrative interface
    Log into the iSTAR Ultra web management console or CLI interface using administrator credentials
    Affected if you can access the device management interface
  2. Locate the firmware version information
    Navigate to the System Information, About, or Firmware Status page within the device management interface. On CLI, use the 'show version' or 'system info' command if available
    Affected if the firmware version is displayed
  3. Compare the installed version to the affected range
    Check if the displayed firmware version is prior to 6.8.9.cu01. Note the exact version string shown (for example, 6.8.8, 6.7.x, etc.)
    Affected if the installed firmware version is lower than 6.8.9.cu01 (e.g., 6.8.8.x or earlier)
  4. Verify the device is exposed to network attack surface
    Determine if the iSTAR Ultra management interface is accessible from network segments accessible to untrusted users or the internet
    Affected if the device administrative interface is network-accessible without proper network segmentation

You are affected if your iSTAR Ultra device is running any firmware version prior to 6.8.9.cu01 and is network-accessible to untrusted users, as an unauthenticated attacker could inject commands to gain root access.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.8.9.cu01 or later
Fixed in 6.8.9.cu01
Interim mitigation

Upgrade iSTAR Ultra firmware to version 6.8.9.CU01 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

6.8.9.CU01

  1. Obtain the fixed firmware version 6.8.9.CU01 from an official Johnson Controls distribution source
  2. Verify the firmware integrity using checksums provided by the vendor
  3. Review the iSTAR Ultra upgrade documentation for any specific prerequisites
  4. Back up current device configuration if supported
  5. Access the iSTAR Ultra management interface or use the vendor-supplied firmware update utility
  6. Upload and apply firmware version 6.8.9.CU01 following vendor instructions
  7. Verify the upgrade was successful and the device is operational
  8. Confirm the device is now running version 6.8.9.CU01 or later
Caveat Review Johnson Controls release notes for any configuration or compatibility changes in version 6.8.9.CU01 before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Istar Ultra Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21941 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-21941 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data